Details reveal Qatar's support for Hezbollah with arms, money
Since 2006, the relations between the Lebanese Hezbollah and Qatar took a political-financial dimension that surpasses the relations that link the party with Iran, especially in the term of financing.
Although the amount of financing or arms, that Doha provided to the party, could not be estimated, some experts and analysts confirmed that "the Qatari support plays a fundamental role in the steadfastness of Hezbollah, especially after the decline in support for Tehran, which in turn suffers from a severe financial crisis."
With the emerging of more information about this support , the latest of which was the disclosure of a Qatari arms deal to Hezbollah, Lebanese political analyst Ali Al-Amin says, according to Al-Ain News, that “there is no doubt that Qatar’s provision of arms and money to Hezbollah is large, but there are no specific numbers about its size"
" You can say that a certain stage, Hezbollah has reached a point where it provided aid to Iran from the Qatari money, " he added.
Both Al-Amin and Lebanese political analyst Luqman Salim agree that “the relationship between Hezbollah and Qatar started mainly in 2006 after the Israeli war on Lebanon when the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, visited the Emir of Qatar in an unannounced way, and then Doha adopted reconstruction, especially in the areas under Hezbollah's influence in the south and its religious centers. "
"Since then, large numbers of those close to Hezbollah began to go to Qatar within the framework of mutual benefit, " he added.
According to Al-Ain , Salim says, "At the time, Qatar intended to grant aid directly to Hezbollah and not to the Lebanese state, in a clear reference to a state’s relationship with what is supposed to be a local organization."
While Salim confirming the unlimited aid of arms and money to Hezbollah, Al-Amin describes the relationship between Qatar and Hezbollah as "primarily the financial relationship."
He pointed out that "this relationship began to consolidate politically more and more through what was known as the Doha Agreement after the events in Beirut in 2008, in which Hezbollah brought its weapons to the streets. At that time the "Doha Agreement" was concluded, which established political norms that gradually led Hezbollah to seize power in Lebanon.
Since Doha Agreement, Hezbollah and its allies are trying to obtain what is known with the "blocking third" in the government with the aim of controlling any decisions that may be taken in the cabinet.
With the imposition of US sanctions on Hezbollah and global restrictions on it, Salim points out that Qatar played the role of "savior" for this militia through disguised commercial operations through certain parties to deliver money to Hezbollah or by sending money in cash to it.
For his part, Al-Amin pointed out that "Qatar's support for Hezbollah is part of its plan to support political Islam, in addition to that it is trying to play a lost role for in the region and internationally through the rapprochement between the contradictors, such as Hezbollah and Israel, for example. At a certain stage Tehran may be itself benefited financially from Hezbollah. "
The causes of the Beirut explosion that occurred, last Tuesday, which was due to the presence of large quantities of "ammonium nitrate", that had previously been found in the homes of Hezbollah leaders in Kuwait and Germany, revealed the possibility that Hezbollah might have a relationship with the explosion .
"It may not have a direct relationship with it, but there is no doubt that Hezbollah knew about it and kept silent about being in the port all these years. It is the one who controls a large part of the port and knows every little thing in it, and therefore it may have benefited from this substance whose quantity was estimated at 2750 tons, " Al-Amin says.
The American "Fox News" website revealed that "Qatar is a major funder of Hezbollah, citing the former agent of a number of Western intelligence services, Jason G., that a member of the ruling family in Qatar authorized the donation of weapons to Hezbollah, which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization."
Jason has a document file proving Qatar's funding of Hezbollah, which he obtained during his work in Doha as a secret agent for an intelligence agency, and the file includes information about an arms deal that a Qatari company bought from Eastern Europe for the benefit of Hezbollah.
Last month, the German newspaper Die Zeit revealed the existence of documents proving that Qatar funds Hezbollah.
The paper indicated that it had obtained evidence confirming that "wealthy Qataris and Lebanese living in Doha send money to the party in Beirut, with the knowledge and support of Qatari officials and through a Qatari charitable organization."
At the same time, it pointed to information about an arms deal from Eastern Europe to Hezbollah, which was being handled by a Qatari company